SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE, 311 



must be attributable the undue destruction which it is desired to 

 prevent. Those who undertake the defense of such methods and of 

 such a system can not complain if the burden of proof is placed upon 

 them of justifying a course which has received the condemnation 

 of mankind. It is difficult to perceive any good reason why the 

 ordinary and usual rules that have always been followed as essen- 

 tial to the preservation of a species should be dispensed with in the case 

 of the fur-seals. It matters little whether it is an absurdity or scien- 

 tifically correct to designate them as essentially or naturally or wholly 

 pelagic. Important controversies between enlightened nations will not 

 turn upon nice questions of scientific nomenclature. The animal whose 

 existence is at stake is useful to man, and it is therefore the interest and 

 policy, as it will be to the honor of both nations, to preserve it. The 

 time has long since gone by when the selfishness of nations may have 

 been the controlling factor in such debates. But were it otherwise, 

 Great Britain will suffer as seriously as the United States from the ex- 

 termination of a herd of seals which the United States alone can pre- 

 serve, which the United States alone can foster, guard, and protect, be- 

 cause it happens that the vital functions of procreation and delivery 

 are performed on its soil. The United States may and will discharge 

 this duty, to its own people and to the world, provided its efforts are 

 not baffled and its beneficent action neutralized by the indiscriminate 

 slaughter of which it complains. 



That the Government of the United States has power, both in law 

 and in fact, within the limits of its own jurisdiction no one disputes, but 

 the suggestion is made that the methods adopted on the islands which 

 constitute the only land resort of the seals are imperfect in practice 

 while perfect in theory. Certain objections are made to show that 

 while care is taken to preserve the female from destruction, so many 

 young males have been slaughtered that the necessary vitality is 

 lacking in the service of the females. Thus it is claimed that the two 

 sources combine to endanger the permanency of the seal family, 

 admitted and undue destruction at sea and unwise or excessive killing 

 on the islands. Conceding for the sake of argument, and only for the 

 argument, that this is true, it must be apparent that the necessity of 

 preventing pelagic sealing is only the more pressing, in the interest of 

 the industry which it is desired to conserve. The methods of the 

 United States may be faulty, but it should not be forgotten that the 

 Government is especially interested in maintaining an industry 



